Paralympic Winter Games at 50: John Gow’s brief but impactful Paralympic presence

(Photos from Matt Gow’s Facebook)

John Gow’s Paralympic Games career lasted a mere one minute and 36.13 seconds. It was his winning time in the six-man slalom IV A alpine skiing race at the inaugural Paralympic Winter Games in Ornskoldsvik, Sweden held from February 21-28, 1976.

When the projected 600 athletes from 46 nations compete at Milano Cortina 2026, it’ll be 50 years since 196 athletes from 16 countries launched the Paralympic Games winter version.

This past fall, on October 8, 2024, Gow passed away in the shadow of his beloved Rocky Mountains in Canmore, Alta. at age 78. His obituary read: “his love for the mountains was a true passion. He shared his expertise with boundless enthusiasm and a generous spirit, leaving an indelible mark on Western Canada’s ski industry.”

While Gow’s passage in Paralympic history was brief, his story is one that resonates strongly with the Games spirit. Gow triumphed over adversity. He surmounted physical challenges to pursue his sports and career dreams.

The father of six, was a star in his community, but not for his Paralympic triumph.

In fact, in an hour-long interview from 2023 that’s available on YouTube, his victory in Sweden is barely mentioned until the final seconds. Back in 1976, the Paralympic Games, both winter and summer, were still a fledgling enterprise. The 1976 Winter Games were officially called the Winter Olympic Games for the Disabled.

The mountains were Gow’s passion from an early age. His grandfather Tex Vernon-Wood was a guide and packer working around Assiniboine and the Spray Lakes in the 1920s and 30s and he was mesmerized by his mother’s tales of her father.

Gow’s father, an RCMP officer, was stationed in Ottawa when Gow and his three siblings were growing up. At 17, Gow landed his first skiing job as a lift operator at Lake Louise and before long he was at Sunshine Village, a certified mountain guide, and then co-founded High Horizons Mountaineering.

However his life changed on April 10, 1969 at age 22. He was a passenger on a small plane (Cessna 140) that crashed in the Purcell Mountains near Golden, B.C. The pilot and Gow’s friend, 23-year-old Bernard Royle, the plane’s only other occupant, was killed. Gow acquired severe facial injuries but survived five days and travelled 15 miles in arctic conditions before being rescued.

“I had to go; I wanted to live,” Gow was quoted in an April 16, 1969 front page article in the Calgary Herald. ‘’You know, I even tried to eat leaves out there to stay alive but they only made me sick.”

Frostbite set in his legs, and Gow’s two feet were amputated not long afterwards.

In a May 23, 1969 article in the Ottawa Journal it was stated: “this ex-Ashbury (high school) student has no intentions of giving up the mountains or ski slopes he has come to know so well. Already he is talking of rehabilitating himself and will soon be fitted with a pair of special orthopedic shoes to help him fulfill his ambitions.”

By 1974, Gow was one of Canada’s trailblazers in Para sport. He competed at the first Para alpine skiing world championships in 1974 at which he was a multi-medallist. Two years later it was that historic victory in Sweden.

“At the worlds in France, the French coach challenged me and said I wasn’t an amputee,’’ recalled Gow in the YouTube interview. ‘’I had to go to a meeting and pull up my pants and the (unimpressed) French coach said, ‘of course he is an amputee.’”

After his competitive career, Gow continued to work in the ski resort industry and was actively involved in his community. Among his many roles was president of the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (1972–79) and chair of the National Advisory Council on Fitness and Amateur Sport (1980–1983). He was also owner and president of Silver Star Mountain Resort, and served as director of Tourism British Columbia (1997–1999) and chair of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (1991– 98).

Canada fielded a six-member team (five men and one woman) at the first Paralympic Winter Games. Lorna Manzer, a physical education graduate at Mount Royal College in Calgary, won Canada’s three other medals, gold in cross country skiing and two bronze in alpine skiing. Also on the team were alpine skiers Rod Blackie, Gerry Butterfield, Don McGregor, and Brent Munroe.

For Gow, those Games were a launching pad to many summits.